Martin Luther King celebrated with Day of Service

Kids at MLK Middle School arrived at school on Jan. 16 to be greeted by a fun version of their school’s namesake. Photo: Michael Fitzhugh

The center of Berkeley’s celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday will be the awards breakfast, now in its second year, but there is a host of other activities focused on the National Day of Service. The Day of Service was started by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for his first inauguration, four years ago. This year, the official day is on Saturday, but many events are being held on Monday as well, which is both a national holiday and the date of Obama’s second inauguration.

Here are some of the main Berkeley Day of Service opportunities. Most of the links lead to signup pages for specific events. If you know of others, please let tell us in the comments below.

Clean up West Berkeley and San Pablo Park Also on Saturday morning from 10 a.m., the Covenant Worship Center will be cleaning trash from the streets and from “our beloved San Pablo Park.”

Milk-for-KidsVolunteers will hand out flyers for the Milk-for-Kids project and urge shoppers at partner stores in Berkeley to purchase milk coupons. Organizers stress this is a kid-friendly effort: “It’s easy to do; kids really “get it” and shoppers love them.” Last year, volunteers encouraged shoppers to buy more than 500 coupons on the Day of Service.